The "Next Greatest" Thing in Farming: Ethanol and Some of the Other "Next Greatest"

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This story shows the impact biofuel production can have. Biofuels have exciting implications for the farm sector, cattle and crop. Check out the flow chart for a good look at a plants production.

I know it's a "motherhood" statement, but I don't think we know yet how big bio-fuel could be. I've seen a lot of "next greatest" happen in farming, a lot of them don't live up to the hype. But some changes have made really positive differences on the farm. Three "next greatest" come to mind

• Canola - Where would we be without canola in western Canada. For extended periods in the last 20 years farms made the money on canola and grew wheat to fill in the rotation
• Zero till - It's everything from zero to min. till and all in between. In 20 years air seeders and air drills have taken over the prairies. They've make production cheaper and more efficient. (and made Monsanto a pile of money) This year's drought would have created a crop failure in our local area, but with present production methods (and amazing genetics) crops pulled through
• GMO Crops - If not for Roundup Ready canola we could not be growing canola in zero till systems as successfully as we do. I know there's more to be said, both good and bad, about GMO's, but they've been positive for production.